# "Nelson Mandela ceremony interpreter branded 'fake'" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068 "2013-12-11T14:13:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/41 "2013-12-12T14:51:38Z")
The only sign language I know is limited to two words (boy, girl), and that’s Ameslan, not South African. Can anyone more knowledgeable say if _any_ of his hand gestures made _any_ sense at all, even a little bit? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/42 "2013-12-12T14:58:00Z")
BBC had a real interpreter and a real deaf person view the tape of the performance. The deaf man was completely clueless what was being said. The interpreter allowed there were a couple or so real words but said it could just be coincidence that he happened to make the actual signs for those. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/43 "2013-12-12T14:59:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > They’re suppose to vet everybody that gets close to the President. It doesn’t matter if the ANC hired him. They check out his credentials and do background checks to weed out people with mental problems. > > Luckily none of the angels he saw landed near the President. You know, when the President is a guest in someone else’s country, what the Secret Service can do is severely limited. Especially when it’s a last minute trip. I’m guessing if they showed up and said “Give us the full dossier over the past 20 years for everyone involved in this ceremony”, they’d be politely told to go to hell. The most they could do is recommend that the President not attend if they’re not happy with security, and that’s ultimately his call, not theirs. ---
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/44 "2013-12-12T15:12:49Z")
I don’t know if this is really him but the first thing I thought of was “word salad”, which is what schizophrenics do. They just start talking in random words that aren’t connected. You can see Charles Manson doing this at some of his parole hearings. > **[22 Words](https://twentytwowords.com)** > > A blend of everything from the serious & creative to the silly & absurd. Funny & fascinating viral content as well as more obscure pics, videos, & more. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/45 "2013-12-12T15:18:41Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > You know, when the President is a guest in someone else’s country, what the Secret Service can do is severely limited. Especially when it’s a last minute trip. There’s one helluva difference between an impromptu visit like this and a trip that has been scheduled for beforehand. When Obama visited Stockholm earlier this year there were weeks of preparations before he arrived. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/46 "2013-12-12T15:33:09Z")
> [@](#): > > According to Jantjie, he was paid a $85 day rate for appearing the Mandela memorial. > > Bogopane-Zulu pointed out that most qualified sign language interpreters charge $125 to $165 per hour in South Africa and speculated that a junior official might have opted for the cheapest quote. [Link](http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21873839-violent-sign-language-interpreters-access-to-obama-triggers-investigation?lite). That reminds me of an old joke: A couple of pilots are flying a dangerous mission. One says, 'Just remember that this thing was built by the lowest bidder. :eek: ’ ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/47 "2013-12-12T15:36:41Z")
Supposedly he was overdue for an adjustment in his medication. Bad time to get such a top gig. As reported in the last link, the interpreter was hired through an agency that has previously contracted for the government and ANC. The Deputy Minister saysthat the management had pulled a disappearing act; preliminary investigation points to the firm having prior complaints of providing substandard services and gotten away with it, apparently because they were so cheap. (My initial WAG is of possible cronyism in the repeated use of the agency. ) ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/48 "2013-12-12T15:54:46Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > There’s one helluva difference between an impromptu visit like this and a trip that has been scheduled for beforehand. When Obama visited Stockholm earlier this year there were weeks of preparations before he arrived. True, but ultimately, when in another country, the Secret Service can’t bar someone else from coming close to the President without the cooperation of that country’s government. Which I’m sure they get 99% of the time, but isn’t guaranteed. And besides, the President comes into close physical contact with people who haven’t had agents poring over their medical history all the time. Do you think when he’s speaking at a college graduation, they get the full mental health records of every single student who is graduating, and who might wind up a few feet away from him? Of course not. They run them all through a metal detector, dress up a few agents in caps & gowns to walk right next to him, and hope none of the students throw a shoe at him. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/49 "2013-12-12T15:59:20Z")
I’m pretty sure they should have realized something was wrong when the guy spent five straight minutes with his arms out in front of him, stone-faced flipping a double-bird. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/50 "2013-12-12T16:10:52Z")
I once watched how how the whole motorcade was in a state of alert for the better part of an hour waiting for Jimmy Carter to emerge from his hotel. Anybody could have seen that something was going to happen any minute and prepared themselves. Afterwards I asked a friend, who has worked with security, why the they hadn’t waited around the corner and then started moving into position while he was waiting in the lobby. The answer was that such things only happens in the best of Worlds and objects have a tendency to have a will of their own instead of listening to safety instructions from their bodyguards. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/51 "2013-12-12T16:11:59Z")
Well, that was my entertainment for the day! Hysterical! ---
**Author:** ![amorali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@amorali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amorali)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/52 "2013-12-12T16:18:30Z")
I saw Clinton speak at a university. They didn’t tell us until three days before his visit. There was no metal detector. Ss swept the building and closed off some stair ways, and that was it. The streets around that building were shut down. There were roughly thirty medical professionals onstage with him and it was a smallish auditorium. It was open to the public. I worked in the building so I just went up there. There was no frisking. I can’t remember if they looked in bags because I left mine in the office. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/53 "2013-12-12T17:15:40Z")
Jimmy Kimmel also had an actual sign-language interpreter on his show last night, and had him to translate some of what the guy at the Mandela ceremony “signed”. What he translated was, essentially, strings of nonsense words. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/X-DxGoIVUWo/maxresdefault.jpg "Sign Language Interpreter Translates Mandela Memorial Impostor's Signs") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-DxGoIVUWo) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/54 "2013-12-12T17:37:43Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > True, but ultimately, when in another country, the Secret Service can’t bar someone else from coming close to the President without the cooperation of that country’s government. Which I’m sure they get 99% of the time, but isn’t guaranteed. The secret service for most powerful man in the world objects to somebody for any reason, ANY, and you think they’ll tell the President to pound salt? Really? REALLY? > [@muldoonthief](#): > > And besides, the President comes into close physical contact with people who haven’t had agents poring over their medical history all the time. Do you think when he’s speaking at a college graduation, they get the full mental health records of every single student who is graduating, and who might wind up a few feet away from him? Of course not. They run them all through a metal detector, dress up a few agents in caps & gowns to walk right next to him, and hope none of the students throw a shoe at him. You’ll note that around the public he has people standing next to him. Every movement of every person next to the President is watched. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/55 "2013-12-12T17:52:57Z")
> [@amorali](#): > > I saw Clinton speak at a university. They didn’t tell us until three days before his visit. There was no metal detector. Ss swept the building and closed off some stair ways, and that was it. > The streets around that building were shut down. > There were roughly thirty medical professionals onstage with him and it was a smallish auditorium. > It was open to the public. I worked in the building so I just went up there. There was no frisking. > I can’t remember if they looked in bags because I left mine in the office. President Clinton or former President Clinton? Because when President Obama came to a basketball game in my city you had to go through metal detectors just to watch the game. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/56 "2013-12-12T17:56:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Jimmy Kimmel also had an actual sign-language interpreter on his show last night, and had him to translate some of what the guy at the Mandela ceremony “signed”. What he translated was, essentially, strings of nonsense words. > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-DxGoIVUWo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-DxGoIVUWo) I don’t know how to interpret this because when asked if the guy knew sign language the interpreter said none. Were they random hand movements he mimicked from watching someone sign or was he randomly speaking durring a non-lucid moment of schizophrenia? Unless he’s the cousin of a government employee I’m inclined to think he got the job at an agency that would recognize sign language if they saw it and he was having an episode. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/57 "2013-12-12T18:00:42Z")
I may have gotten an email from that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/58 "2013-12-12T18:02:56Z")
I watched this a number of times thinking his movements reminded me of something. It finally struck me. Old movie cliche’s of American Indians: “How, I’m chief Crazy Horse” with hand gestures and pause with folded arms in front, “we want peace, not war”, with hand gestures and pause with folded arms in front… ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/59 "2013-12-12T18:51:06Z")
BBC news says the agency that employed him has reportedly vanished. [http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25345627](http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25345627) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068/60 "2013-12-12T19:22:43Z")
[From BBC](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25345627): Thamsanqa Jantjie, who stood alongside world leaders at the event, has denied being a fraud, and said he panicked when he began hallucinating. He said he had schizophrenia, **which had in the past made him act violently.** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nelson-mandela-ceremony-interpreter-branded-fake/676068.md?page=4)